Method for decorating flexible material



7 Dec. 31, 1929. c. A. HANINGTON METHOD FOR DECORATING FLEXIBLE MATERIAL2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Jan. 16, 1926 ATTORNEYS.

Dec. 31, 1929. c. A. HANINGTON 1,741,770

- METHOD FOR DECORATING FLEXIBLE MATERIAL I Fild Jan. 16. 1926 2Sheets-Sheet 2 i W 5' L @ITORNEW'.

Patented Dec. 31, 1929 STATES PATENT FFHE CHARLES A. I-IANINGTON, OFFREEPORT, HEW YGBK Application filed January 16, 1926.

, My invention relates to method and apparatus for decorating flexiblematerial, such, for instance, as cloth in the piece, paper, etc., and isparticularly directed to the decoration of such material by theapplication thereto of a design, and imbedding in the design materialone or more kinds of decorative substances, as for instance, metallicparticles and/0r beads.

1 My invention will be better understood by reading the followingdescription taken in connection with the accompanying drawings forming apart thereof, and in which Fig. 1 is a side elevation of apparatussuitable for carrying out my process;

Fig. 2 is a side elevation of one of the means for forcing thedecorative material onto the designs;

Fig. 3 is a front elevation of the means for catching and collectingsome of the excess decorating material;

Fig. 4 is a side elevation of a modified apparatus suitable for thecarrying out of my process;

Fig. 5 is a detail showing means for carrying the goods through themachine;

Fig. 6 is a detail showing modilied means for carrying the goods throughthe machine;

Fig. 7 is a view of one of the decorative units on an enlarged scale,illustrating the preferred position of the decorative elements; and

Fig. 8 shows another arrangement of means for decorating material by useof a loop alone.

Referring to Fig. 1, the machine consists of a suitable framework 1 uponwhich are mounted rollers 2, 3, 4, 6, 7 and 8. Each of the rollers isprovided with a sprocket 9 at each end having teeth which cooperate witha chain 10 attached to the edges of a belt. The belt acts as a supportfor the material 12 to be decorated. One form of belt is made up asshown in Fig. 5 and consists of a strip of ""mesh material 11 at eachedge, which is attached in any convenient manner to chains 10 which passover two sprockets 5, one at each edge of the belt. In the form shown inFig. a piece of canvas 11 is placed between the two mesh strips andslats ll" are attached to Serial No. 81,660.

ears or lugs on the chains 10. It is desirable that the cloth, or othermaterial being decorated, extend out beyond the edges of the canvas 11and onto the mesh material so that any beads or other ornamentingmaterial may pass out through the openings in the mesh and not get backbetween the belt and the cloth and cause bumps which would interferewith the operation of decorating; the canvas and the slats act tosupport the cloth or other material.

The decorating material such as finely divided metallic particles, orsmall glass beads, or other comminuted material, may be placed in thecontainer 13 provided with a controllable outlet 14 through which theparticles are allowed to pass into the intake 15 of a rotary fan 16. Arotating distributor 17 is placed in the intake 15 for the purpose ofdis tributing the particles as they go into the fan. The fan 16 isdriven by any suitable means and forces the particles onto the cloth 12through a nozzle 18, which causes the particles to go onto the materialto be decorated with considerable force and in a thin flat stream. Thenozzle 18 is located as shown in Fig. 1, so that the particles areapplied to the material as it passes from roller 3 to roller 4 and asuitable guard 19 surrounds tne nozzle and collects the excessdecorating material which falls downwardly into the legs 20 of the guard19 and from there discharges into receptacles 21, from which it may betaken and placed back in the container 13 for re-use. That part of theguard 19 adjacent the nozzle 18 is arranged to fit rather closely to thematerial being decorated, although not sufficiently close to engage thesame. The particles are applied through the nozzle 18 to the materialWhile the design material is wet and the force with which the particlesare discharged through the nozzle is sufficient to partially imbed thesame in the design material, which is of an adhesive character. Theresult is that the design becomes partially covered by the particles,although the particles discharged through the nozzle could be in asufficient quantity to completely cover the design. Obviously, thoseparticles which are forced against the 010th W e e there is 110 designmaterial will not adhere thereto permanently. Some of these particles,however, will remain on the material, but only a small portion will doso.

It is often desirable to place line metallic particles on the designs,as above described, and subsequently thereto apply glass beads 01 othermaterial to the designs also. The beads referred to here are those wellknown in the art. These may be applied by placing the same in thereceptacle 22 which has a discharge chute 23 for conducting the headsdown into the loop in the material which is formed by the passage of thebelt, chain and blanket supporting slats 11 around the sprockets 5. Byplacing a substantial quantity of beads in this fold or loop of thematerial a consider-- able pressure is produced on those immediatelyagainst the material. This pressure is sufiicient to thoroughly imbedthe beads into the design material which is still plastic, whereupon thebeads remain upon the design. The beads in the trough, or loop, whichare being continually replenished from receptacle 22, keep workingtoward the outside of the trou h and spill oil through netting or meshin the belt into suitable receptacles. As the material passes up overthe roller 6 mostof the heads will separate from the material at allplaces except the designs. The material is then passed over the roller 7and from there it is conducted to any suitable place where the designsare permitted to dry and the particles and beads become substantially auni tary part thereof. The material may then be brushed and all loosematerial removed.

The belt passes around all of the rollers in an endless fashion in theusual well-known manner.

I have shown in Fig. l: a modification oi? the apparatus for carryingout the method. The apparatus comprises a suitable iramework 25 providedwith rollers 26, 2'1 28, Q9, 30, 31, 32, 34, and 353. A belt 3? likethat heretofore described, is carried on the rollers 26 to 20,inclusive, and a similar belt 38 is carried on the rollers 30 to 36, anda driving belt 39 connects the rollers 29 and 30 together. At 33 isshown a sprocket similar to 5 of Fig. 5, for forming a loop and leavingan open space for the decorating material to .t'all away as soon as itleaves the material being decorated. Each of the rollers also hassprockets tor engagen'ient with the chains at the edges of the belt.Decorating material of the desired character is placed in a receptacle40 and discharged into the rotary fan 41 and onto the material throughthe nozzle l2, as already explained. A guard 43 is placed near thenozzle and has the same function as that heretofore explained. A fan a lblows the excess decorating material from the material being decoratedthrough I a nozzle 45 placed close to the material. This insures thatthe material being decorated will come to the next operation in a cleancondition.

Beads, or other suitable material, are placed in the receptacle 46 fromwhich they are introduced into a rotary fan I? which forces the beausonto the material being decorated through the nozzle 48 in a mannersimilar to the action through the nozzle 42, and in a sutlicient uantityto cause them to keep replenishing t ie mass of beads or other units inthe loop formed by sprocket where they keep working toward the edge ormaterial and spill oil through netting or mesh into the receptaclebelow. The material with the decorations thereon is then run up over theroller 35, and the material 50 which is decorated is then conducted toany desired location where it is permitted to dry, as already described.

In Fig. 6, I have shown a modified form of belt in which the canvasstrip is omitted and the netting, or open mesh material, er.- tends fromone chain 10 to the other. As in the form shown in Fig. 5, slats 11 arealso provided.

In Fig. 7 I have shown one of the units of a design on an enlargedscale, and have illustrated the arrangement of the decorative material.Obviously, the arrangement shown is partly illustrative, each unitdiflers from the other for obvious reasons. It will be seen that a unitconsists of a mass of adhesive material 52 in which metallic particles53 are imbedded, and in which beads 54: are also partially imbedded inthose portions of the adhesive which are not occupied by the particlesof metallic. It is understood that a series of dots or units, such asthat shown in Fig. 7, are suitably arranged to produce any desireddesign or configuration. I prefer to separate the units constituting adesign so hat asmall area of the material being decorated will remainundecorated between the uni s. This allows greater flexibility of thefinished product and also results in less liability of breaking orenlarging the design upon the necessary bending of the finished product.

In this connection, I call attention to my previously issued Patent No.1,329,900.

In Fig. 8, I have illustrated still another form of my invention. Inthis figure two tables '56 and 57 are placed in line with each otherwith a space between. In this space a loop 58 in the material 59 formedand support may be used to support cloth or other material at the loop58. The supporting trough 60 is held in place by brackets 61 on thetables. A receptacle 62 contains decorating material which may bedischarged into the loop 58 through a nozzle 63 controlled by valve Asshown in Fig. 8, an excess amount of decorating material 65 is placed inthe loop and as the cloth or other material 59 is moved with thisdecorating material thereon the same causes a pressure which forces theparticles of decorating material into the wet designs which havepreviously been placed on the cloth or other material. As the materialto be decorated passes through the loop some of the decorating materialremains thereon and this is replenished from the receptacle Thedecorating material also passes out and over the ct ges of the materialinto suitable receptacles 66 from which the material may be placed backi the receptacle 62 and again placed in the loop. The process abovedescribed may be a continuous one as when decorating cloth in the pieceor it may be intermediate where it is desired to decorate lengths ofmaterial.

hen metallic particles and beads, or other similar decorating material,are both used the metallic usually covers only a portion of the unitsand the beads, or other material, cover the remainin portion of theadhesive mass of each unit. As is well. known, the metallic particleshave sharp edges, whereas the beads, or similar products, are relativelysmooth. By placing the metallic on the ad hesive first and applying thebeads thereafter, the metallic particles are imbedded to a deeper degreethan the beads in the adhesive and the sharp points and edges thereofare protected by the beads and the units are given a smoother surfacethan would be the case if the decorationwere done with the metalparticles only.

The chief oifference between the form of apparatus shown in Fig. 1 andthat shown in Figs is a separation of the means for applying themetallic particles and that for applying beads, or similar material, sothat the metallic particles and beads do not become mixed in theoperation of the apparat-us, as shown in Fig. i, as they do to someextent in. that shown in Fig. 1.

\Vhile I prefer to use both metallic and beads or material similar toeach of these in decorating the material. I may use one of suchmaterials alone without the other. In such a case the trough, or loop,such as that shown around the sprockets 5 in Fig. 1 and around thesprockets 33 in Fig. 4 alone, may be used to apply the decoratingmaterial, al.- though the nozzle may be used alone or both together withthe same material, but they are not necessary.

Usually it is advisable to brush the finished product after the same hasbecome completely dried so as to remove any loosely adhering decoratingmaterial therefrom.

By the use of the foregoing apparatus and process indefinite lengths ofmaterial may be decorated rapidly and therefore economically, and T havesuccessfully decorated material with this machine at a much more rapidrate than has been possible with any machine or method heretofore used,to my knowledge.

Material may be passed through the machine at a speed of about 18 yardsper minute. The machine and method, therefore, have many advantageswhich will be obvious to those skilled in the art.

I may use a loop alone formed by a belt or by letting the weight of thedecorating material force the cloth itself into a rigid trough so thatas the cloth is pulled the weight of the decorating material continuallyfor es the cloth being decorated into a loop in the trough and thedecorating material keeps working toward the edge of the cloth where itmay spill oft into receptacles. The cloth may run free so that a loop isformed by reason of the weight of the cloth and the decorating materialand as the cloth is pulled along the decorating material forces itselfinto the wet design and also keeps working toward the edges of the clothand spills off. The loop is continually formed by new cloth to bedecorated.

I claim:

. 1. The method of decorating sheet material which consists in applyinga series of designs to the material, forming a loop in the materialbearing the designs, placing an excess amount of decorating material inthe loop and moving the material being decorated whereby decoratingmaterial will be imbedded by its own weight in the material of thedesigns.

2. The method of decorating sheet material which consists in applying aseries of designs to the material, continuously moving the material andforming a loop therein, supporting said material on an open-mesh Worksupport, supplying an excess of decorating material tosaid supportedloop, whereby decorating material is imbedded in the designs and theexcess decorating material allowed to escape over the edges of thematerial being decorated.

3. The method of decorating sheet material which consists in applying aseries of designs to the material, continuously moving the material andforming a loop therein, supporting said material on an open-mesh worksupport, supplying an excess of decorating material to said loop,whereby decorating material is imbedded by its own weight in thedesigns, and the excess decorating material passes continuously off theedges of the material being decorated.

4. The method of decorating cloth in the piece which consists in placinga design thereon, continuously moving the cloth and at the same timeforcing the matallic particles on the wet design, forming a loop in thematerial, applying an excess of beads to said loop whereby said beadsare imbedded in the design by their own weight, removing the excessbeads and drying the design.

5. The method of decorating cloth in the piece which consists inapplying a design thereto, forcing metallic particles into the wetdesign while the cloth is in motion, removing the excess particles,forming a loop in the material, supporting said loop on an open-meshsupport, forcing heads into the design and removing the excess beadsover the edges of said material and through the open-mesh support.

6. The method of decorating material which consists in placing designson the material, forcing line particles of a metallic nature onto thedesigns with sufficient force to partially imbed the particles in thematerial of the designs, removing the excess particles andthen "forcingheads onto the designs with sufiicient force to partially imbed thebeads in the design material.

7. The method of decorating material, con sisting of applying a designto the material, forcing metallic particles on the material while thedesign is wet so as to partially cover the surface of the design,removing the excess particles and forcing beads on the material alsowhile the design is wet so that said beads adhere to the design notcovered by said particles, and removing the excess beads therefrom.

8. The method of decorating cloth in the piece which consists in placinga design thereon, continuously moving the cloth and at the same timeforcing metallic particles on the wet design to cover a portion only ofthe design, continuously forcibly applying heads to the design to coverthe remaining portions of the design, removing the excess heads anddrying the design.

9. The method of decorating cloth in the piece which consists inapplying a design thereto, forcing metallic particles into the wetdesign while the cloth is in motion to cover a portion only of thedesign, removing the excess particles, forcing heads into the design tocover the remaining portion of the design and removing the eXcess beads.

10. The method of decorating material which consists in placing designson the material, forcing fine particles of a metallic na-' ture onto thedesigns with snfiicient "force to partially imbed the particles in thematerial of the designs to cover a portion of the surface of thedesigns, removing the excess particles and then forcing heads onto thedesigns with suflieient force to partially imhe the beads in theremaining uncovered design material.

CHARLES A. I LXNINGTON.

